There is need for a conscious budget that caters for all

Apr 27, 2013 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
The 2013 budget debate presentations have certainly provided many opportunities for the Guyanese populace to hear and read the different agreements put forward by members of parliament. Many, I say, from both sides of the floor, were very impressive. I must articulate, however, that despite many of the creditable arguments put forward, some were far from the true realities, that government so skillfully sugar-coated.
Their well decorated speeches with words that the people in our country who are mostly affected, ‘the grass root’ and ‘the poor’ cannot comprehend,  I daresay have achieved in great degree of hiding the truth and realities from those people.
Of all of the presenters, I believe it would be an indictment on the people of Region 10 if a response to several comments made by Member of Parliament Neil Kumar during the budget presentations was not attended to. He asserted that Region Ten, which I would like to refer to as the revolutionary community, has benefited from government’s big-hearted nature and open-handedness.
One of his presented points; he stated that for the first time in the township there is a female town clerk since his party took control of government from 1992. With regard to this, the scholarly member should consider that what is equally true is that since then there have not been local government elections.
Though this might have seemed worthwhile for him to mention, I didn’t think it was a big deal, due to the fact that the town clerk’s position is not an appointed one, individuals would have to apply for the post and if they were successful they would have secured a job. I know this because I had applied for this post several years ago, but refused it because of the paltry salary it provided.
The well-read member went on at length to speak of enhancement works and investment projects that government has undertaken in the region, which I must say is out of sight and invisible to the countless masses of unemployed residents, most of which are educated young people. His strong point of a ‘chicken shop’ (Church’s) selling fried chicken to the people, was far from satisfying.
The honourable member boasted that 12.5 million Euros was pumped into the Linden Economic Advancement Project (L.E.A.P) to aid the economic advancement of the community.  I daresay that might have been the intention of the project in its embryonic stage, but the true reality of L.E.A.P is that it has not leapt. The large sums of money that he described as being ‘pumped’ into the community is, I believe, a figment of his imagination, because no evidence of such is in existence . Those monies were probably pumped indeed, but I believe it was done somewhere else.
In the area of housing, he boasted the figure of 4,000 to reflect those in the township who acquire house lots – which is an entitlement to all Guyanese, regardless of race, religion, status, political persuasion and most certainly regardless of one’s geographical location. The truth about this is that it is a birthright for all Guyanese to acquire land. The citizens/residents of Region 10 desire to build, but this is extremely difficult due to economic stagnation – the paucity of business activities to create jobs for the residents.
The knowledgeable member stated that the health sector has improved in the region with the construction of health centres and a state-of-the-art hospital. I, with my limited knowledge and travel experience compared to the honorable member, am left to wonder, if a state-of-the-art hospital is one without a mortuary, without specialists to deal with all medical situations, is one that is ill-equipped with the machinery and equipment to treat its patients, is one that always has a shortage of medication, except for aspirins. I don’t know, maybe it is!
The honourable member also took some time during his illustrious presentation to mention that it was under his government’s administration that this ‘revolutionary community’, Linden, for the first time was able to top the ‘common entrance’ examinations. I found this expressed view very appalling, for it blatantly diminishes and disregards the diligent and hard working efforts of the teachers who would have laboured beyond the call of duty to help all of these students to prepare for their examinations.
The conclusion that can be drawn from the presentation of the honourable member is that he is out of sync with the true reflection of the realities that exist in Region 10.
This budget that the honourable member and his colleagues so adamantly defend and support is one that will continue to enslave the majority of the masses. We will be made tenants on our own soil. We will have no strength, no power, and no control over our own destiny in the land of our birth. There is need for a conscious budget that caters for all Guyanese, the haves and the have nots.
Jemaine Figueira

 

 

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